Banking On Hitting My Marks

Shot a commercial the other day in which I played the dramatic and exciting role of “man whose life is ridiculously cool and happy because he has mobile banking.” All in all, the shoot went fine. They say that 75% of acting is being able to hit your marks, and I think I hit all the important ones.

ACTING!!

The “diva” mark: I’d told them when I was available, they needed me another time. I said I’d try to make it work, then hit them with really, really specific demands. I know how shoots go, you can’t say “When it hits noon, I have to get in the car, whether we’ve got the shots or not.” But that is exactly what I said. I also said I’d totally understand if they wanted to use someone else. I think they would have, but the client wanted me. Most people were good-humored about it. A couple, though, when I apologized for the demands, could only muster a subdued, “Yeah, well…”

The ACTOR! mark: Okay, it had more to do with opening myself to the camera, and thus ventilating, but the shoot was in full sun and when we were done my off-camera side was completely stained and wrinkled with sweat, but my on-camera side was dry and crisp. Everyone was duly impressed at the extent to which I’ve trained my body. Even my pores are professional.

The *Star* mark: These two women who were extras kept flirting with me. I got the distinct feeling it was fueled by my being the center of attention. I wanted to say, “You know this is a commercial, right? For a bank? There’s nothing sexy going on here.” Maybe they just love a man who can selectively sweat.

Brad Pitt: another actor considered sexy for his mobile banking prowess

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About The Byronic Man

Recently voted "The Best Humor Blog in America That I, Personally, Write," The Byronic Man is sometimes fiction, sometimes autobiography. And sometimes cultural criticism. Oh, and occasionally reviews. Okay, it's all those different things, but always humorous. Except on the occasions that it's not. Ah, geez. Look, it's a lot of things, okay? You might like it, is the point.

A man whose life is ridiculously cool because of mobile banking? Damn, B, that’s some Neverland acting right there. Because I don’t know that that person actually exists! Well done portraying a fictional character.

I just saw Orlando Bloom play Romeo on Broadway. Not as bad as it sounds. He was quite good, actually, but Juliet is desperately in need of diction lessons. That’s a big problem if the name of your play is “Romeo and Juliet.” Romeo made his entrance on a motorcycle. (A modern twist.) He removed his helmet, ran his fingers through his brown, curly locks and delivered his opening line. The ladies swooned. Talk about hitting your mark!

More specifically, he needs to ask for a brandy glass full of brown M&Ms or he won’t go on set. Throw in a Bengal tiger, a shopkeeper and his son that were beaten to death by their own shoes, and a can of mace just for the hell of it

Interesting (I thought), and unrelated story: I read about the “No green m&m’s” story. It was in Van Halen’s contract, and apparently the reason they put that in there was they put on a massive stage show, and would have town B building the stage while they performed in town A. If there were green m&m’s in the dressing room, that meant they hadn’t read the contract closely, and that they needed to inspect where the props had been placed and, more importantly, the thoroughness & safety of the stage construction.